London Calling
by UncertainMandate
Summary: The tensions between two of our heroes suddenly come to a head. When, in response, one leaves to spend a semester studying abroad, the other suddenly realises that he may have screwed up for good this time.
1. Chapter 1

_I got the inspiration to write and this is what came out. It's not been beta'd so anything horrific is my own sole responsibility. If you like it let me know and I'll finish it. If it sucks, let me know and I'll consign it to the Recycle Bin of Eternity. Please review; love or hate. It really will dictate extension/ termination._

_Standard disclaimer: I own nothing; neither Community nor any of the referenced songs. They belong to Springsteen, to Jimmy Eat World, to Paramore, to the Stereophonics, to Freeze the Atlantic, and to The Gaslight Anthem._

* * *

'What the hell Jeff!'

He grimaced. She'd found him. She always could. She was a Jeff-Seeking-Missile.

'Well we've already learned I can't hide in the men's room or any of the store cupboards so I came here. At least this time Pierce won't walk past with a pencil stuck in his cheek…'

She didn't even flicker a smile. He knew he was in trouble.

It had been another day and another argument. He'd lost track of the reasons, they had all blurred into one recently.

'Look Annie…' he started but she cut him off.

'You need to decide and decide now. I need to know. I'm fed up of this. It's been four years and we're still here'.

'Still where?' She ignored him; she had a fire burning bright in her eyes.

'You need to decide: you either want to be with me, or you don't. Which is it?'

He was immediately struck by a deep sense of déjà vu.

'I'm sick of this', she continued, 'you say you just want to be friends then this happens. You say you just want to be friends and then you chase off any guy I so much as smile at. I'm fed up of it!'

'Annie…' Again he tried to get a word in. Again he failed.

'It's like this. I've been offered the chance to spend next semester in London. If I go I'm flying out three days after New Year'.

He knew. He didn't know who it had been that had given her the idea but he had been amazed at how she had taken to it. Her drive and determination. She had letter-bombed every College in England until one had said yes.

'Tell me not to go. Tell me to stay here, to stay with you. Because I will. You're not stupid, you know how I feel. So this is your chance. Your final chance'.

He must have searched for an answer for just a fraction of a second too long.

'Thanks Jeff', she said, 'Thanks for finally letting me in. It wasn't too hard now was it?' With that she turned and left, the door slamming behind her.

The silence remained unbroken for a few seconds before he aimed a kick at a nearby storage crate, sending it clattering across the room.


	2. Chapter 2

The next semester passed slowly. They didn't see each other again after their argument. The rest of the group had tried to organise a leaving-party but Annie had turned them down, instead choosing to see them all separately. Cake making with Shirley, fund-raising with Britta, god knows what with Pierce. From the stories her leaving "do" with Troy and Abed had been off the wall. As for Jeff's, he hadn't asked and she hadn't offered.

Once she had settled in London she had begun to send them all a fortnightly email, filling them in on all the exciting things she was getting up to. The sights, the sounds, even the studying. She seemed to be having a blast. Jeff always made a point of replying but it was never more than a few lines: I'm Jealous! It sounds so cool! Keep Safe! She never replied back.

Despite Study Group all knowing they were getting the same email as each other Jeff had quickly found that they never discussed them. Or at least never disussed them whenever he was around. In fact they seemed to try to avoid talking about Annie at all. Indeed he could always tell when he had walked in on an 'Annie Conversation' as the room quickly filled with an awkward silence. Even Pierce stopped making comments. Jeff wondered what Shirley and Britta had had to threaten him with to achieve that. At first it annoyed him; it was not as if he cared. In fact he would have quite happily joined in with all of the "oohs" and the "aaahs" and the jealousy. Eventually, however, he accepted it as fact. As the semester wound on he even found himself beginning to appreciate it.

Without realising it he begun to count down the days till she was coming back. He refused to admit that he missed her but he had begun to notice the extended lack of her presence, her smile, her laugh, her sense of humour, and her stupid doe-eyes in his life. Quickly her face had become constantly lodged at the front and centre of his mind and nothing would shift it. Not even alcohol. What he had done, however, was manage to convince himself that when she did come back the two of them would quickly slip back into their old routine, the pre-vacation argument forgotten. In his darker moments he knew that wouldn't be true. He remembered what she said all too clearly. It had been his chance, and the more he thought about it the more he began to wonder if he had blown it.

Things then took an abrupt turn. He arrived to the Study Group on the last Monday of the semester to find the Dean sat in his spot.

'Ah Jeffrey you're here! Fashionably late of course!' Standing up and doing his half bow/ curtsy he continued, 'I was about to tell everyone about the theme for Greendale's end of semester Dance!'

'I imagine they're all on tenterhooks' was the best retort he could come up with.

'As you all know your friend and Greendales first ever reverse-Pilgrim… I mean Greendales first ever Official explorer, your own Annie Edison, is returning home next week, and so to celebrate and welcome her back Greendale will be staging an 'Annie-Dance'!'

Suddenly the room went deathly silent.

'Everyone needs to come dressed either as their favourite Annie or anything London related! FYI I have dibs on Annie Lennox'

The silence hung like a lead balloon. The Dean quickly caught on and immediately looked aghast.

'What did I say?' he asked worriedly.

Jeff was equally confused.

It was Britta that finally spoke. 'You guys don't know?'

'Know what?'

She looked around nervously.

'Annie's College in London have offered to extend her stay by another semester', she paused, 'with the option of a permanent place if that goes as well as the first one has…'

Suddenly Jeff felt a solid lump in his throat and a weight descend on his stomach. He carefully sat down. 'Really?' he asked.

'Yeah she emailed all of us this morning, didn't you get it?'

No he hadn't. He hadn't received an email from her since her last update.

'Yeah… yeah sorry' he lied in an attempt to save face, 'I've just not had a chance to check my emails yet this morning. Flat battery' he waved his phone in her direction as proof. He knew that they had all seen straight through him though, Jeff Winger not checking his mail by 9am? Impossible.

'Ah okay' she replied awkwardly.

'But what am I supposed to do with all of the 'Welcome Back Annie!' drapes I've ordered?!'

Jeff zoned out. So maybe she wasn't coming back. Maybe she was staying in London. Maybe she was just having too much fun. Maybe she'd met someone. Maybe she had seen Greendale for what it was. Maybe he had gone too far this time.

_Tell me to stay here, to stay with you. Because I will._

After the Dean left with tenuous but plausible replacement dance ideas they all returned to studying. Just in complete silence. Even Abed – the one who could remove tension from any given situation and who, Jeff later conceded, was probably struggling with all the emotions anyway, remained silent. Every so often Jeff could feel the caring eyes of one of his friends fall on him but he paid them no heed and made no eye contact. He instead stared squarely into the screen of his phone, trying not to let on and trying to find the email he had missed.


	3. Chapter 3

_I feel nervous over this chapter. I've just finished reading another FF that had a similar idea as the below and so similar themes. Whilst I get that FF is a platform for sharing ideas, I just wanted to make it clear straight from the off that I didn't steal/ borrow inspiration for that Fic. In this case it appears that great minds have obviously thought alike._

* * *

She had made him a Mix CD one day. It wasn't like that though. She hadn't done it in the stereotypical love-sick-puppy-dog-Teenager-showing- boy-slash-girl-of-his-slash-her-dreams-how-they-fe lt-through-music way. The idea had come from a conversation Abed, Troy and Britta had been having about "Romantic Clichés" and how the latter pair were trying to avoid them. Annie had argued that they Mix CDs didn't necessarily fall into that category. They could be made simply to share favourite music with friends. Annie being Annie had then come in the next day with a CD for each of them.

Jeff hadn't made it very far through his. They'd all promised to listen and report back the next day but he had made it as far as track five or six. It had been what he had expected, a mix of chart hits and some classical numbers (music to study too he figured). The last track he had paid any notice to had been something of a surprise though. It was a bit more 'rocky' with guitars and drums. It was a song he had recognised. It was called something like "It Takes Some Time" or "Everything is Gonna be Alright". It was one of those tub-thumping "things are going to get better" songs that whiney American band's kept churning out to cater to those who needed constant positive reinforcement through song. He found it odd that Annie listened to it. He'd quickly dismissed the thought however and left the room, only returning when the CD had finished.

Tonight, however, he was drawn to it again. He'd finished class, gone to the gym, done a few hours at the office and then come home. Pouring a glass of something strong he'd found the disc and put it on.

An hour and a half later he had realised the mistake he had made.

Mixed in with the chart and classical mish-mash were other songs. More guitars and drums. He figured Britta's influence as he recognised a few of them from when they had been together. That wasn't the problem however. He had concentrated on the lyrics.

'_If you still care at all, don't go tell me know. If you love me at all, please tell me now'_

'_Then out of nowhere you put me back there, you rip my heart right out. You rip my heart right out'._

'_And after all this time, I'm still into you'_

'_You made me feel like the one, you made me feel like the one… your one'_

_It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride. Everything, everything will be alright…'_

And the biggest killers?

'_I get so tired of this pretence that everything is okay, it all just feels like self-defence, there goes another day...'_

And:

'_And all my friends say… Turn the record over, I'll see you on the flip side… Let her go, Let somebody else lay at her feet where you used to be'_

As soon as it had finished he knew she hadn't given the group the same CD. His, at least, had been different, and he now saw it for what it was. It _had_ been an attempt by her to show him how she felt. It _was_ her feelings. Yet at the same time it was also a warning. She had been telling him he was running out of time and that if he wanted to be with her he needed to act. And he'd missed it.

Everything now made sense. He'd never worked out why she had spent the next few days being very off with him. Hell probably more off with him than she had ever been. He'd not admitted making it past track five. In the conversations that had followed he had just agreed with everyone else's conclusions. Now he knew. She must have seen straight through him when they had talked about it.

'What did you think of Track Twelve?' he remembered her asking.

'Yeah, good, I liked it. It was very You'. He had replied.

Track Twelve? '_And all my friends say… turn the record over. Let her go, let somebody else lay at her feet where you used to be_'.

"Fuck!" he cursed into the night.

He'd screwed up hadn't he? Another lie she had seen right through. Another time he had taken something she had done and thrown it back in her face. Another time he had been a tool to one of the nicest, most genuine people he knew. He was a jerk. He knew it.

The odd thing was that in the past he wouldn't have cared. He was never one for being worried about what other people thought or said about him. Hell even in the present day he probably wouldn't be too overly troubled by it if it was by most other people. But it wasn't most other people. This was her. This was Annie… Annie was different… Annie was…

He should have known. He shouldn't have done it. Damn hindsight.

He knew he had dropped the ball before the holidays but now he realised the real extent to which he had. Not only how, but also how often. He had screwed up and he was suddenly feeling very… not guilty, but… guilty. He needed to talk to her, to apologise. But it wasn't possible was it? An email wouldn't cut it anymore, it needed to be done face to face. Yet she was in London, and worse still she might not be coming back.

Suddenly he was struck by an idea. He found himself reaching for his cell. It was midnight but he knew someone would be around.

'Daniels, it's Winger'

'Jeff buddy, sup?'

'Listen I've had a bit of a family issue, the younger brother has run away to London or something stupid...'

'Aw man that sucks'

'Yeah tell me about it. Look I'm going to have to go out after him and bring him back. Probably means I'm not gonna be around the office the next few days'

'Damn man, no worries, Anything we can do to help?'

'Er, yeah, any chance you could get one of the girls to hook me up with a flight? Preferably tomorrow. Take it out of my wages or something'

'Yeah, shouldn't be an issue. London right? I'll get one of them onto it and I'll ring you in a bit with the confirmation'.

'I appreciate it man'.

'Don't sweat it'

He hung up.

As he was throwing clothes into a bag he was reminded of a song his Mum had played when he had been growing up.

Springsteen. Bobby Jean.

It felt apt to the situation.

_And I'm just calling you one last time, not to change your mind. But to say I miss you, baby. Good luck, Goodbye_

Just less the 'Call'. And the 'Baby'. More 'I'm sorry'. Maybe some 'I miss you' though. Hopefully no 'Goodbye'. But equally hopefully some 'Changing of her mind'. Okay so maybe it wasn't like the Springsteen song. He doubted The Boss would mind though.

He was going to go to London, and he was going to apologise to her. It was the least he could do.

Right?


	4. Chapter 4

London.

The next day.

Maybe the next day plus one. He wasn't entirely sure.

Once he had landed and cleared Customs he had immediately set about finding himself a hotel. He had been to London before so he had some idea as to how it worked. Unlike most in his situation (not that anyone else was probably stupid enough to be in his situation) he hadn't travelled into the centre of the city in search of one. Instead he had got off the tube a few stations short and searched for one around there. Whilst this would add commuting costs to his stay he'd figured these wouldn't total up to be as much as the premium he would have had to have paid for a Central London hotel. Once he had found a suitable one he hadn't wasted any time and after grabbing a quick shower he had headed back out. Thankfully the girls in the office had managed to get him into business class on the flight so he had had some sleep.

Over an hour later, and after getting somewhat lost and confused on the Underground (one of the lines was out for maintenance or something), he found himself stood outside a specific house in a long, long terrace of them. This wasn't America with its condo's and apartments. This was housing on an immense scale.

How had he found the address? He was… he _used_ to be a lawyer, he had his methods. Indeed Jenkins' streak was 4 from 4 up until now so he had every confidence in its accuracy.

As he climbed the steps to the door however he was struck by an epic bout of cold feet. What if, despite Jenkins, the address was wrong? What if she was out? What if she _really_ didn't want to see him? Worse still, what if she was in, but in with someone else? He quickly became very conscious of the fact he had really not thought his plan through properly. Up until now all he had had in mind had been 'London. Annie. Apologise'. He'd not given any consideration as to the intricacies of the idea and the more he thought about that the more he worried. How would he feel if someone he knew from a thousand miles away turned up on his doorstep unannounced? Fucking freaked. That was the answer.

He considered leaving and instead falling back on his hotel and maybe sending her an email. Say he was in London on business and ask if she fancied meeting up. He saw three key advantages to this. One he wouldn't come across as being as impulsive as he knew his little trip had made him appear. Two, Annie would get some control over any meet up they arranged - well at least more control than she would get from him just showing up. And, finally, if any method would offer complete closure on the matter it would be that; if she turned him down straight away he would know for sure that he had lost her.

In that moment however he got a second wind. He'd come all this way to apologise to her. He'd flown from Colorado to London to do it. He couldn't back down now. It might take some explaining to anyone else in the house but he was here for a reason and he would see it through. He forced himself to reach out and press the buzzer.

As the noise of the bell reverberated back into the house he felt his heart begin to pound.

Through the small frosted glass window in the door he saw a light flick on and a figure begin walking towards him.

This was the moment of truth; if not for Annie and him then certainly for Jenkins.

From what he could tell the figure had Annie's height, Annie's hair colour… Then he heard a voice shouting back into the house. 'Give me a second, someone's here. It better not be the taxi!'.

It was her. He felt himself begin to tense.

Then the door opened.

'Hey' he said.

The figure immediately recoiled in shock and surprise, her eyes wide, her face ashen.

'Jeff?' Annie finally managed to say.

'Mi'lady' he nodded.

* * *

**The flights are real! You can fly on a Tuesday evening from Denver to London Heathrow, via Reykjavik in 11 hours with Icelandair. It leaves Denver at 1700 and arrives at 1145 British time the next day (all this for a cool walk up cost of £986/ $1523). Commute from Heathrow to just outside London is an hour tops. Taking into mind Customs etc. I figure he got to a hotel around 1400/1500. I do my research me!**


	5. Chapter 5

'_So what's everyone up to over the holidays?' Shirley asked excitedly._

'_Me and Troy are off to InspectorCon 2013! It's going to be epic!'_

'_You are?' Britta immediately turned and asked Troy._

'_Yeah… I hadn't mentioned that one yet Abed'_

'_Oh, my bad'._

'_What about you Jeff?'_

_He suddenly felt five pairs of eyes fall on him. _

'_Jeffrey?'_

'_Hmm? Sorry, yeah, I zoned out. What did I miss?'_

'_Holiday plans dude'._

'_Oh the usual. The old man wants to get the family together…'_

'_Oh that's nice'_

'_Yeah, we'll see'._

_Their question answered the Study Group returned to talking about Abed and Troy's big adventure. He, meanwhile, went back to figuring out how many days it was now._

* * *

They stood in silence for a few seconds. Whilst his chest no longer felt like it was going to explode he could still feel his pulse racing.

He took a second to take stock of her. She'd only been gone two months but he could see that London had treated her well. It was definitely the Annie he knew of old. Her face was the same, her hair was the same, the fashion was the same, maybe there was a little more make up... In those few seconds, however, he had picked up on one subtle difference: The way she held herself, her posture, it was different. She seemed taller, more relaxed and more in control. It told him without the need for any words how much she had experienced and grown in the last two months.

'What are you…?' she recovered, the colour flooding back into her face as she composed herself.

'I came to…' he began but his attention was suddenly caught by more movement behind her. Someone else had walked into the hallway. Another guy. Annie must have noticed his reaction as she turned a whiter shade of white. His heart sank. He knew immediately knew what this mean. Who this person was. A boyfriend. He quickly began to try and form some solid enough reasons to justify him being there.

Then the figure came fully into view and Jeff got his own huge shock.

'Abed?'

'Hey Jeff!'

Then another person appeared in the corridor.

'Hey Annie, Britta wants to know where…'

'Troy?'

'Oh… Hey… Jeff'

'Britta too?'

Annie gave a nervous smile. The blonde must have heard her name being mentioned as she slunk into the hallway. Unlike the boys who seemed to think that them all standing there was the most normal thing in the world, she was as taken aback as Annie had been.

'Jeff?'

'I saw you guys a few hours ago?!' He asked, dazed.

'A few hours or two days ago?' Abed replied, somewhat confused.

'Yeah, fair point', he conceded, 'I suppose the flight… Shirley and Pierce?' he asked, half expecting them to wander into the narrow corridor.

'Nah, kids and, well, who knows'

There was another short pause it gave Jeff long enough to stage a slight recovery. 'You invited him though right? Because I can't be doing with another of his 'you always exclude me' rants' he teased.

He got a half smile from one of the four.

'We're here for InspectorCon London 2013. Annie's putting us up' Abed suddenly perked up.

Jeff had a vague memory of him mentioning it. He hadn't realised it had been in London though. They hadn't mentioned that part.

'Wow, how did you guys afford that?'

'Do you think we like eating Buttered Noodles Jeff? Or do you think we do it because they are _really_ cheap?' Troy deadpanned.

Jeff smiled.

At that moment, however, he again became very aware of his lack of any plan. London. Annie. Apologise. His old winging abilities had suddenly failed him. In hindsight it was probably due to the presence of the Greendale Three. If they had not have been there he was sure he would have been able to blast through a speech about how sorry he was… Instead he was stood awkwardly on a strange doorstep in a strange town searching for the right words.

The silence was interrupted by the explosion of a car horn behind him.

'Cab's here!' Abed stated.

'Cab?' he asked

'Yeah, we thought you were him', Annie replied, 'There's a Convention pre-party we've got four tickets too…' she tailed off having placed too much emphasis on the word four.

Jeff cursed his timing. 'Yeah, look sorry this is a bit random. That's cool' he said. 'I'm staying in a hotel just out of town. How about one of you gives me a call tomorrow and we'll meet up?'

The four of them suddenly all looked at Annie. In the past she would probably have shied away from making the decision but not anymore. After what seemed like an age she eventually nodded.

'Okay, yeah we will'. That was Britta.

'Cool'.

The four of them quickly exchanged smiles with the one of him and Annie closed the door, motioning to the cab driver that they would be out in a second. All told the encounter had taken less than two minutes.

Jeff turned on his heels, nodded towards the driver and headed back to the station. As he walked he was hit by three pervading emotions.

Firstly was the complete randomness of Troy, Abed and Britta being there. If he had sat and made a list of a thousand things he thought would happen in London he was sure he wouldn't have come up with that one. He vaguely remembered them mentioning they were going to the Convention, but they certainly hadn't said it was in London. He thought to ask one of them why they hadn't invited him or even mentioned it, but he knew the answer probably lay in the fact they were staying with Annie. This in turn, however, made him wonder if Annie had been the one who had asked them not to tell him. That would surely have been the biggest sign yet that she didn't want to see him. Despite himself, however, he doubted that it was that. Annie wasn't like that. Right? The Three must have been trying to protect both of them.

Next was the realisation as to how awkward the whole thing had been. Whilst he hadn't known what to expect it certainly hadn't been that. He knew that if he had been in Annie's shoes he would have been more than slightly taken a-back, but she had said little more than 'hello' and then 'sod off' to him. The Greendale Three and the Cab hadn't helped matters but something just didn't feel right…

Then there was Annie herself. She looked… better…. good… amazing. As she had opened the door his heart had been pounding. As soon as he had got his first looks at her in months he knew what he had been missing. He'd always liked her. It'd just taken her moving to another continent for him to realise just how much.

All he had to do now was make it up to her.


End file.
